As the new year begins, there’s some things James and I have to start looking into. Ethan is attending kindergarten at the preschool/daycare* he has been at since I went back to work when he was 3. We made the decision to keep him there in their private kindergarten this year, but next year he will be going to public school for the 1st grade.

*I don’t want to say the name of the school our kids go to, so for the duration of this post, we’ll just call it, OurSchool. Sound good?

This makes a big change for us. We’ve been going to OurSchool for a long time. Jocelyn was in a home daycare when ethan first started at OurSchool, but when she turned two (the youngest allowable age at OurSchool) we moved her there as well, for convenience. She will have been going there 2 years in March, when she turns 4, and this year marks Ethan’s 3rd year there.

As you may have guessed, we just love this school. The administrators are fantastic, the classrooms are small, the teachers are wonderful. We’ve had a few spots for both kids where the teachers seemed to come and go, but with other teachers having been around for 10+ years, we were not worried. Ethan’s kindergarten teacher has been teaching at OurSchool for over 20 years, and she is absolutely fantastic.

OurSchool has the hugest playground I have ever seen at a daycare/preschool. It is probably three times the size of some of the cookie cutter daycares in our area. They have a 10×10 covered sand box, a domey monkey bar thingee, a pavillion, swings, a big climby slide thingee, a row of tires, more swings and slides, plus more that I’m not remembering – and that is not including the toddler play area which is completely separate from the big playground. The entire playground is fenced in, and along one side is a wooded area which brings the kids closer to nature. In the fall, they both collected acorns to bring home, stack in bowls, hide in pockets until they turned up in my washing machine – I complain (not really), but I LOVED it. Ethan often comes home with twigs, special rocks and of course, sand in his pockets. I love that their playground is not some sterile rubber area surrounded by concrete just outside the fence. They really are in the outdoors, with tons of room to run and play and watch caterpillars and bugs and nature.

So it’s with a heavy heart that I’m looking around at other situations. You see, OurSchool isn’t in our immediate area, and doesn’t service our public schools for before and after care, so with Ethan moving to public school, we will also have to find a new daycare for him for before and after school. I know these facilities have their good points and once we’re used to it, and used to our new routine next fall, all will be well, but just thinking about it now makes me sad.